


Bechloe X Hancock

by when_you_know_you_know



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22253182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/when_you_know_you_know/pseuds/when_you_know_you_know
Summary: Beca is a drunk and disorderly superhero, misunderstood by the citizens of LA, living day to day with no recollection of how she ended up there or how she came to be a superhero. After a chance encounter with publicist Chicago Walp, Beca is encouraged to clean up her act. All goes well until Beca meets Chicago’s wife, Chloe. And it turns out Chloe can empathise with Beca better than anyone could ever know..
Relationships: Chloe Beale & Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Chicago Walp
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	1. Part 1

> “I didn’t hear any of this, didn’t read about it in the papers?” Chicago asked, completely in awe by the story Beca had just told about her past. They were sat in a beautiful restaurant with Chicago’s wife, Chloe. Earlier that day, Beca had used her superpowers for good for once, and had shut down a major armed robbery at one of LA’s biggest banks. She’d saved several lives. And she hadn’t been a dick about anything.
> 
> Widely known as an anti-hero by many, despite Beca’s best intentions, whenever she arrived to ‘save the day’ she more often than not created more carnage - the curse of being persistently drunk. But the civilians of LA didn’t understand. None of them could. Beca was the only one of her kind. And that loneliness and turmoil had her always reaching for the bottle.
> 
> “It was probably in the papers, uh, eighty years ago.” Beca explained with a small nod, noting the way Chicago’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
> 
> “Eighty years ago?”
> 
> “Oh I, uh, I don’t age.” Beca said with a shrug. It was all she’d ever known. She’d only ever known looking like this. Had only ever known being this powerful. Indestructible.
> 
> Eighty years ago she’d woken up in a hospital with no ID and no recollection of what had happened before that moment. Just a smashed-in head. The nurses had tried to put needles into her arm to give her medication to save her. But the needles had just bent.
> 
> Fortunately she hadn’t needed any medication. Doctors were baffled when, within the hour, her skull had completely healed on its own accord. Beca had left the hospital an hour after that, homeless, with nothing but the clothes on her back, and in her pocket some bubblegum and two movie tickets.
> 
> “That must be nice.” Chicago said fleetingly to Chloe with a small smile, before looking back to Beca for more of the story. Chicago had been busy helping Beca raise her popularity among the general public - having been hated by many for so many years. It came after Chicago’s car had broken down on a railway line while a train was headed right for him. Beca had arrived (drunk) and had flung Chicago’s car off the tracks before bracing herself and allowing the train to crash into her. The train came off worse. _Far_ worse. Chicago was forever grateful.
> 
> “Gotta wonder though.” Beca continued, vulnerability showing across her steely expression, because for some reason she felt like she could reveal a little more of herself to these kind people, “What kinda bitch must I have been…that nobody was there to claim me.”
> 
> It was the main thought that had swirled around her head day in day out for eighty years. There must’ve been _someone_. She’d had _two_ movie tickets in her coat pocket.
> 
> “I mean, I’m not the most charming girl in the world, so I’ve been told but… _nobody_?”
> 
> Neither Beca nor Chicago noticed the way Chloe looked at the woman sadly. Longingly. Almost _apologetically_.
> 
> Because unbeknownst to Beca and Chicago, Chloe had been the owner of that other movie ticket…


	2. Part 2

Beca treads awkwardly into the kitchen of Chicago and Chloe’s house shortly after they all return from the restaurant. She watches as Chloe wipes up a couple of coffee cups.

“He’s asleep.” Beca says, coming to a standstill near the fridge. Chloe nods in acknowledgement.

Chicago had got rather drunk during dinner. So much so that by the time they were all ready to leave, he could barely stand. Fortunately Beca had super strength, and she used that power to carry the man out of the restaurant and to a cab, laying him across the back seat, his head resting in Chloe’s lap, before the brunette took a seat in the front. Getting him up the stairs once home was a little trickier but Beca had managed to drop him onto the bed and within seconds Chicago had fallen straight to sleep.

“I don’t know why he struggles so much to clean up after himself.” Chloe says conversationally in a bright tone while pushing the cups into a cupboard.

But as she turns, she comes to a stop, realising just how close she is now stood to Beca. They look into each other’s eyes and Beca is stunned. She feels something. Something she’s never felt before. And it’s all because of Chloe. But _why_?

She sees Chloe look down at her hand that rests on the kitchen worktop. There’s a large bruise on the back of her hand. Beca noticed it earlier and had wondered how the hell it’d got there. She’s immortal afterall.

Chloe looks concerned, looking up into Beca’s eyes. And with that look, Beca feels her heart tug. What _was it_ with this woman?

“You’re bruised.” Chloe says in a worrying tone, briefly glancing away from Beca, deep in thought about something. She seems to eventually come to a conclusion, adding in a hushed tone, “You should go.”

Their faces begin to draw closer together. Beca finds this indescribable force, connecting herself to Chloe. Drawing her to the redhead. And she had no idea why.

“It’s getting late.” Chloe whispers in a terrible attempt to send Beca away. But her eyes are already fluttering closed as Beca leans her forehead against hers. The sexual tension is palpable and soon Chloe closes the gap, her lips landing on Beca’s.

A surge of emotion and feelings and warmth rockets through Beca’s body from Chloe’s lips on hers. She suddenly feels complete. As though she belongs.

No sooner does Beca slip her tongue into Chloe’s mouth however, the redhead grabs Beca by the lapels of her jacket, and swings her forcefully around, letting go so that Beca is flung into the fridge. But Beca didn’t just crash into the fridge. She crashes _through_ the fridge. And through the wall into the lounge, and through the wall of the house, out into the front yard, then the street, colliding with a neighbours car, landing on the stationary vehicle with a humongous **crunch**.

Left unharmed but entirely confused by Chloe’s superhuman strength, Beca peels herself from the shattered windscreen, looking at the line of damage that had followed in the wake of her journey of being thrown. To her surprise she sees Chloe fly out of the gap in the house - _literally_ _fly_ \- and over to her, landing right before her with a serious and steely expression.

Chloe points her index finger at Beca threateningly.

“Chicago can never know about this.” she says.

She turns on the spot and strides away with purpose. Beca gulps. What _the hell_ was going on??


	3. Part 3

_“My place. Four o’clock.”_

Beca had set the time and location when Chloe had insisted that yes they _would_ talk about what had happened last night, but that it wouldn’t be at Chloe and Chicago’s home in front of Chicago.

So Beca paced impatiently outside her run-down trailer by the Hollywood Hills. It was 4.02pm. Chloe was late. The brunette noticed a speck in the sky flying in her direction, the speck getting bigger and Beca realised it was Chloe. _Flying_.

Chloe landed with an almighty thud, dirt and dust exploding into the air from her feet. Beca did nothing more than blink. So…she _wasn’t_ the only one of her kind. Chloe was a ‘superhero’ too.

Beca was speechless as Chloe glared at her, the redhead striding with purpose towards the trailer, and past Beca to step inside. Beca followed her, wondering what Chloe might say or do. Either way, Chloe _had_ agreed to explain what was going on. So she followed her into the trailer.

“Ask.” Chloe said simply. Seriously. Moving to the end of the trailer, looking around at how messy it all was.

“You and I-” Beca began, but her visitor was quick to interrupt.

“-You and I what?” Chloe replied in an impatient tone, not looking at Beca once. Instead choosing to grimace at the state of the filthy oven top.

“We’re the same.”

“No.” Chloe quickly dismissed, “I’m stronger.”

“Really.” Beca didn’t believe her. Because as far as she was aware, she was frikkin strong. Stronger than anything or anyone she’d ever known. But Chloe finally looked over her shoulder at Beca with a small amused smile.

“Oh yeah.” She replied confidently. There was a cockiness to her expression and it had Beca feeling drawn to the woman once again.

Chloe continued to look around the trailer, spotting an open old cigarette tin that now had a stick of gum and two movie tickets inside it. _The_ movie tickets.

“Who are we?” Beca asked in a serious tone, not liking how much effort it was taking to get some information out of the redhead.

“Gods. Angels.” Chloe answered, sweeping her fingertips thoughtfully over the kitchen surface, collecting dust to glance at, “Different cultures call us by different names.” Chloe paused, looking at Beca and raising her eyebrows, “Now all of a sudden it’s _superhero_.”

Beca swallowed loudly, her mind thinking back to situations in the past that she could remember. The time she’d flung that beached whale back into the sea (which, coincidentally, had happened to hit a sailing yacht in the process causing uproar from citizens and greenpeace alike for the damage to both victims on the yacht _and_ the whale). The time she’d flown into a burning building to rescue _nine_ _people_ including a newborn baby (but unfortunately much of her clothing had caught fire and she was gasping for something cool and refreshing to help her recover, resulting in her flying straight to a nearby ice cream van that had been surrounded by young children - unfortunately most of her clothes had burnt from her body and the parents were horrified as she cut the line to grab an ice cream before flying off). Those situations and many more had been Beca thinking ‘I need to save them/it’ and just doing it without considering the consequences. She’d done it out of the goodness of her own heart. Much like an angel would’ve done…

“Are there more of us?” Beca asked, wondering how many ‘superheroes ’ she’d have the misfortune of coming across. She didn’t want there to be others. She was having a hard enough time getting to grips with the idea that Chloe was the same as her. Superhuman. Other-worldly.

“There was.” Chloe answered seriously, taking a couple of steps towards Beca, “They all died. It’s just the two of us.”

Beca had a box of unopened popcorn kernels nearby, and as Chloe reached the spot right before her, she could feel the inside of the trailer heating up. The intensity of Chloe’s bright blue eyes bearing into hers had Beca’s heart racing. What was going on?

The kernels began to expand, popcorn eventually exploding beside them. Beca was confused. _What was going on_??

“What is this?” Beca said, caught in Chloe’s gaze, wanting answers to the bigger picture that her amnesia seemed to prevent her from knowing about, “Who are we to each other.”

“We’re sisters.” Chloe said, but there was a flicker to her expression that Beca caught. Something was up.

“No, that is a lie.”

“No. I’m your sister.” Chloe insisted, stepping past Beca and heading for the door of the trailer.

“That’s a lie!” Beca barked back, stalking after Chloe as she left the trailer. She wasn’t going to get away with giving that answer.

“I’m your sister!” Chloe repeated once again, but Beca knew for sure that the woman was lying.

“Sisters don’t kiss sisters the way you kissed me last night!” She counteracted, and it was enough for Chloe to stop in her tracks, turning on the spot to glare at Beca once again. And suddenly Beca noticed the way Chloe’s eyes flickered everso briefly. She hadn’t known the woman long. But she knew for sure that that was Chloe’s tell.

“You’re lying.” Beca said with finality, turning away from Chloe with a determined expression, headed for a clearing nearby, “Deal’s off. Lets go see what Chicago makes of all this.”

And she took off from the ground, throwing dust and dirt into the air as she quickly flew away from the trailer and headed for the city to find Chloe’s husband, catching Chloe calling out to her:

“Get _back_ here you dick!!”

Beca glanced over her shoulder as she flew. Chloe was flying behind her, chasing her down with an angry expression on her face. Time to see if Chloe really _was_ the strongest out of the two of them…


	4. Part 4

“Why were you flying?” Chicago asked Chloe in disbelief, watching as his wife strode into the house as though it was really no big deal that she’d just landed in their back yard with an almighty thud, “You were _flying_ , Chloe.”

Beca paced into the house via the front door, hearing the tail end of Chicago’s sentence, and rose her eyebrows as she arrived in the kitchen, “Yeah she was definitely flying.” she agreed, and Chloe let out a sigh while rolling her eyes.

“ _Okay_ I was flying.” she conceded, raising her hands in defence before letting them drop by her sides and turning to her husband, “And I’m very strong as well. It’s just the way we are.”

‘We’. Beca was confused. She and Chloe were now a ‘we’? Well…technically they’d always been a ‘we’, but Beca didn’t _know_ Chloe. And she didn’t like her crappy attitude.

“We?” Chicago asked, clearly unhappy about all that was being revealed.

“Me and her.” Chloe explained, still looking at Chicago but motioning briefly at Beca with her hand, “It’s just us now, the others paired up and died.”

Paired up?? Beca was getting a little irate. What else was Chloe hiding?

“Woah, you didn’t say anything about the others pairing up at the trailer.” she accused Chloe, stalking over to sit at the kitchen table, facing the two people she _had_ been getting to like.

“You were at her trailer.” Chicago said to Chloe. And it caused the redhead to become a bit flustered.

“This is very hard to explain.” she tried, but Chicago was unimpressed.

“Great, well I’m all ears Chloe.”

“Me too.” Beca added, but it only served to make Chicago annoyed, and he looked to her with his hand held up.

“Look, do me a favour and give me and my wife one moment, please.”

“Don’t bring it here, Chicago.” Beca barked back. This wasn’t her fault. None of it. _Chloe_ was the one keeping all the secrets. Anything that Chicago found out about the situation was news to Beca too.

Chloe hesitated, glancing at Beca while biting her bottom lip before looking back at Chicago with a guilty expression. She appeared to psych herself up to say something. And with a deep breath she revealed a bombshell:

“ _Technically_ …she’s my wife.”

Beca’s jaw almost dropped to the ground, “Hoooly shit.”

She and Chloe had fought hard earlier. The brunette had just made it to the city when Chloe had caught up to her, grabbed her by the back of her clothes and had flung her to the ground. There the two had gone head to head, clanging large vehicles intonone another, both entirely furious at the situation. In the end Beca and Chloe had had the misfortune of grappling mid-flight, colliding with the very building that Chicago had been having a meeting. Just as Chloe shrieked about how much she hated Beca, Chicago had peered through the broken window and down at the two women to see Beca on top of Chloe trying to calm her down.

“What?” Chicago choked out, as stunned as Beca was about this new revelation.

“We broke up decades ago. Long before you were born.” Chloe explained, as though the information would make everything okay, adding, “She just can’t remember.” and motioned to Beca once again.

Chicago paused, looking at Chloe in disappointment, “Yeah but _you_ can, right. You knew?” Chloe’s expression dropped and she swallowed loudly, beginning to feel guilty as Chicago continued in a slightly more irritated tone, “That might be something you want to bring up on a first date, Chloe. I don’t like to travel; I don’t like Beyoncé; I’m immortal. Okay? Those are some things you might wanna give a little heads up on.”

Beca had to admit, Chicago was right. Entirely right. She felt betrayed enough as it was and Chloe wasn’t even her wife! Well…she _was_ apparently, but…Beca didn’t _know_ her.

“Whatever we are we were built in twos okay? We’re drawn to each other.” Chloe said, her hands on her hips while she watched Chicago begin to pace, panic beginning to set in in her mind, “No matter how far I run, she’s always there, she finds me! It’s physics!”

The frustration in Chloe’s tone is clear, as though Beca always finding her was a huge inconvenience. And it confused Beca. Because something must’ve happened for Chloe to want to avoid her. After all, they’d been _married_! They must’ve been in love at some point!

“What are you saying? Are you saying you’re fated to be together?” Chicago asked suddenly, and Beca was pleased he had done. Because if he hadn’t then she sure as hell would’ve.

“I’ve lived for a very long time Chicago,” Chloe said in a quiet, almost _exhausted_ tone, “and the one thing I’ve learned is that fate doesn’t decide everything. People get to choose.”

Beca’s chest felt tight. Choose. People had a choice. _Chloe_ had had a choice.

“And you chose to let me think that I was alone in this world.” She said to the redhead in a disappointed tone. To say Beca was upset was an understatement. All these years with amnesia and she thought she was alone. That nobody in this world cared about her. That nobody ever had. But _Chloe_ had.

Chloe, who glanced over at her with a sheepish expression, “I didn’t think you’d miss what you didn’t remember.”

That wasn’t a good enough answer for Beca, no matter how apologetic Chloe looked. Chloe had left her. Had let her believe there was nobody in the world for her. And with that knowledge Beca shot up to her feet, the chair scraping back violently, and the brunette stormed out of the house, taking off in the front yard to fly back to her trailer to try to come to terms with all of this new information.

“Great.” Chicago said, looking from the front of the house where Beca had just been stood, over to his wife, “Now what?”

Chloe still looked sheepish. She realised just how many people she’d hurt just now. People who she really loved (even if she’d never truly tell Beca her love for her).

“I didn’t plan for this.” She tried to explain, but to her disappointment, Chicago just turned slowly on the spot and walked out of the kitchen with his head hanging down.


	5. Part 5

Whiskey. Beca hadn’t had whiskey in three days. Not bad for someone who had once been a raging alcoholic. But thanks to recent events - namely, discovering that not only was she not the only one of her kind but that the other person had infact been married to her and had essentially left her for dead in hospital eighty years ago - she now felt the need to turn to the bottle again.

Beca pulled two large bottles of whisky from the shelf and headed towards the small checkout. There’d once been a time when she wouldn’t even pay for her alcohol. Since meeting Chicago and being trained in the art of publicity by him, she now knew of the importance of paying for items.

“Ninety one ten.”

Beca’s eyes bulged in disbelief at the extortionate price the shop owner was telling her. There was _no way_ two bottles of liquor costed that much.

“Come again?” she asked, wondering if the man might’ve got it wrong.

“Ninety one ten.” The owner maintained and Beca scrunched her face up.

“Ninety one ten? You gotta be shitting me!”

But just as she toyed with the idea of grabbing the bottles and storming straight out of the store, Beca noticed that the store owner was staring directly at her, the whites of his eyes showing while he sweated profusely.

“Ninety. One. Ten.” the owner said slowly, his finger slowly moving down to cover the ‘0’ in the price he’d rung up on the machine - turning ‘$91.10’ to ‘$91.1’

 _9-1-1_. He wanted her to call the cops. Beca saw him subtly motion to the ground beside him with his eyes and she understood what that meant. He was being held at gunpoint beneath the counter.

She let out an impatient sigh. This gunman was keeping her from wallowing with her alcohol at home. And if there was one thing Beca hated, it was having to wait for something.

So the brunette took a step to her right, bent over, and smashed her fist through the lower counter, grabbing a gunman by his shirt and immediately throwing him across the store as though he were a rag doll. The man collided with a glass fridge, causing it to shatter around him, and he collapsed unconscious into a heap on the floor.

By the time Beca had stood upright and had turned back to the store owner, she let out another impatient sigh, rolling her eyes, unimpressed. Because another gunman now stood, holding a gun to the owner’s head. The criminal looked manic - his eyes wide and his face sullen, shaking slightly at the powerful woman before him.

“I’m taking the money!” he barked and Beca sighed again. She didn’t have the patience for this shit. But she _did_ have the patience to mess with the criminal for a bit.

“I can relate to that.” she said with a nod, taking one step backwards as the gunman looked at her, confused.

“When you want something - nobody can stop you from taking it - you just take it, right?” Beca said, grabbing a snickers bar from the shelf behind her, “I like that…but _can_ you take it?”

Beca looked to the gunman seriously, cockiness to her tone as she challenged:

“My snickers bar verses your gun.”

She noticed a flicker of hesitation in the man’s eyes, clearly wondering if Beca was being serious. But Beca was being deadly serious. And the gunman quickly made a rash decision, immediately pointing his gun at Beca and shooting three times. At the exact same time, Beca threw the snickers bar at the man’s forehead with such power it forced him backwards and through the store window behind, the man collapsing into a heap on the street outside.

“Sorry about your window.” Beca said to the store owner. But the man just stared back at her in horror. And that was when Beca felt a sharp continuous something in her abdomen.

She looked down to where her hands had automatically grabbed the area, and saw them covered in blood. She’d been shot. And for some reason it had penetrated her once impenetrable skin. It had been one of the things that made her immortal.

Suddenly Beca felt lightheaded, and as she let out a long exhale, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed backwards into a stack of shelving…


	6. Part 6

Beca laid dumbfounded in her hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. One thing was certain - she could completely understand now while mortals cried out in pain the way they did wherever they were injured in some way. It fucking hurt. It’d been an eventful hour but according to the doctors she was now ‘stable’.

 _Stable_. She’d never been _un_ stable before. Well..not that she could remember. But apparently Chloe could - the woman having left her in hospital eighty years ago with amnesia giving Beca the impression she was alone in this world.

 _Chloe_.

Beca saw a figure approach the open door of her bay area, and she slowly turned to see Chloe stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame while biting her bottom lip nervously. Beca felt her chest tightening and, at the very same time, a warmth radiating through her body. It was a feeling similar to the feeling she’d felt when they’d kissed yesterday.

“You’re becoming mortal.”

Chloe’s words seemed to comfort Beca as they were spoken simply, breaking the silence. And the brunette watched as the mysterious woman slowly wandered towards her.

“It’s us. Being close to each other.” Chloe explained, reaching Beca’s bedside and perching on the edge of it by Beca’s hip, “It’s never happened this fast before.”

The room fell quiet again, the only noises being that of the observation machines that Beca was hooked up to, and the chatter of the medical staff outside the small bay Beca was in. Chloe’s eyes flickered across Beca’s body, from one patch of Beca’s hospital clothes to another, and it surprised the brunette. Because the woman’s eyes kept pausing at places Beca knew she had mysterious scars.

And that was when Beca realised: Chloe must know where those scars would’ve come from.

“ _You have to leave_.” Chloe whispered, and Beca found herself looking up into her eyes. Warm, bright blue eyes looking back at her with such affection in a way that no person had ever looked at her before.

“The farther away you get from me the better you’re gonna feel, and you’ll start getting your powers back.” Chloe continued, her fingertips having found Beca’s fingertips, the digits lightly touching, “You’ll be flying and breaking things and saving people before you know it.” she added with a soft smile.

There was an intimacy here that Beca had never experienced before, and while it would make many feel uncomfortable, it made Beca feel _safe_. Chloe clearly knew her better than anyone in this world. And yet Beca was still nonthewiser in terms of what they were. ‘A pair’ so Chloe had said. But a pair of what?

“It’s like I said. We were built in pairs.” Chloe said, as though reading Beca’s mind, “And when we get… _close_ to our opposites, we lose our power.”

“Why?” Beca croaked. It was the first time she’d spoken since informing the doctors earlier that needles wouldn’t work. That hadn’t been so. Her recent mortality meant that the doctors had managed to give necessary drugs with ease.

“So we can live human lives.” Chloe answered with as much affection to her quiet tone as her affectionate expression, “Love. Connect. Grow old. _Die.”_

 _Love_. _Connection_. The more Beca looked into Chloe’s eyes the more she could feel that connection. And although she couldn’t feel any love, she was sure that once upon a time she had done. Had loved Chloe and had been _in_ love with Chloe.

“What happened…to us?” Beca asked, weakness in her voice. She was tired. And not like usual when she was drunk or anxious. She was tired because she was _still_ in a bit of pain. Never mind becoming mortal giving her physical vulnerability, but it also seemed like pain relief wasn’t really relieving much pain…

She watched as Chloe carefully reached for part of her hospital gown, and peeled a bit back to reveal a clean looking scar.

“Summer of 4bc.” Chloe began, “We were becoming mortal like now. They came after me with swords. But you saved me.”

Beca didn’t look down at the scars. She knew where they were. As did Chloe it seemed..

“1850…” Chloe continued, her fingertips running delicately across the larger scar that speckled across her chest just below her collarbone, “they set our house on fire. You pulled me out of the flames.”

Beca wished she could remember. Wished she could remember all of it. The dangerous situations they’d got in over the centuries. Loving Chloe.

“80 years ago.” Beca said, “What happened then?”

Chloe paused and Beca saw the way tears slowly built in her eyes. If she didn’t know any better she’d think Chloe still had feelings for her..

“We were living in Miami.” Chloe began with a sniff, “And a new movie was playing in town.”

Beca thought back to the two movie tickets in that cigarette tin in her trailer. The tickets she’d stared at so many times over the years, wondering who the second ticket belonged to.

“Frankenstein.” Beca interjected with a small smile, pleased to see Chloe smile softly back with a gentle smile of her own.

“Yeah. And after…we walked down Flagler Street, and you took my hand,” Beca watched as Chloe took her hand in both of hers and brought it to her face while whispering, “ _and you held it so tight_.”

Chloe’s eyes were squeezed closed while she placed a soft kiss on the backs of Beca’s fingers. Beca didn’t know what to do or say. Her chest felt warm and her heart beat fast. Once Chloe had brought her lips away from Beca’s fingers, she looked down at them, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“They attacked us in an alley.” Chloe eventually said, her eyes looking up into Beca’s once again while another tear slipped down her cheek, “ _They hit you so hard.”_ she whispered, _“There was so much blood_.”

Beca swallowed loudly, her eyes beginning to water slightly. Because this was all so unfair. She hated that she couldn’t remember. Hated that she’d been so weak back then. Hated that it was a memory that clearly still haunted Chloe to this day.

“They wouldn’t let me ride in the ambulance with you.” Chloe added with a loud sniff, taking a deep breath to compose herself while she put Beca’s hand back down onto the bed, “And…by the time I got to the hospital, you were awake…But you didn’t know me…So I left.”

Normally this would feel like a lot to take in. After all, this was the explination of how Beca had got her scars. Of why Chloe hadn’t ‘claimed’ her eighty years ago. It was to _save_ her.

“Every time we’re together, they come after you through me.” Chloe said after clearing her throat and she let out another soft sigh, “Through the centuries nobody could accept that two women could be in a relationship together. Could be in love. That was why we always ran into so much trouble. That was why I wasn’t allowed in the ambulance with you all those decades ago.”

Neither Beca nor Chloe saw Chicago arrive near the door, his eight year old son stood with him. His son, Toby, who had been so desperate to see Beca - his hero. Chicago hadn’t been shocked to see Chloe already at Beca’s bedside. The little family had watched the news over dinner that had reported Beca’s downfall at a local liquor store. Chloe had pretended not to care, but Chicago had seen the concern on his wife’s face. He decided to guide Toby towards the small waiting area nearby until Chloe came out. Only then would he see if it was ok to take Toby in to see Beca.

“You’re built to save people more than the rest of us. That’s who you are.” Chloe explained gently, “You’re a hero. The insurance policy of the gods.”

It was a lot for Beca to take in, and a tear slipped from the corner of her eye, rolling down her temple and pooling in her hair.

“I stayed away to keep you alive. To protect this world and you. And it’s been torture trying to do so.” Chloe reached out, cupping Beca’s cheek and wiping away another tear with her thumb, affectionately adding, “It’s been torture being so in love with you - knowing we belong to each other - and not being allowed to be together.”

Beca brought a hand up, holding it over Chloe’s hand that cupped her cheek as Chloe whispered, “ _I miss us_.”

The atmosphere seemed to change around them and Beca could sense a dark presence. She reluctantly broke eye contact with Chloe and turned her head towards the door just as three sinister looking men arrived on the ward. Chloe sensed it too, turning to look at the criminals, and just as they spotted Beca, the redhead slid off the bed to stand between them and the woman behind her.

Beca heard a gunshot and felt a searing pain in her stomach. But she hadn’t been been shot. She _knew_ she hadn’t been shot. And sure enough, she watched in horror as Chloe staggered forward a couple of paces before falling to her knees, her hands held to her stomach while blood began leaving her body…


	7. Part 7

The pain searing through Beca’s body converted into rage and in one full swoop she launched herself from the bed towards Chloe, keeping hold of the bed rail, and flinging it through the air towards the gunmen. It smashed through the doorframe as it went and Beca had no time to look to see if it had hit them or not. She was too focussed on Chloe who shreaked out in pain.

Beca crouched beside the redhead, her heart racing as Chloe looked up at her, her hands still clasped tightly to the wound on her stomach that oozed with dark red blood. And for the first time in her recollection, Beca felt scared. She barely knew Chloe yet something _something_ had her terrified that she was about to lose her forever.

“Chloe!!” Chicago was heard yelling loudly, clearly upset by the sight of his wife so injured. Beca looked to see him cowering nearby, his arms protectively around Toby who looked petrified. Chicago looked as though he was toying with the idea of racing over to Chloe’s side. But it would be far too dangerous.

“Stay there.” Beca ordered. She only had the strength to protect Chloe right now. She’d struggle to keep a watch on all three of them.

Without any further glances around, Beca scooped Chloe up in her arms, and headed backwards towards a nearby wall. She smashed through it, no regard of the damage she was causing the hospital. Her only thought was on Chloe and how she needed to make sure the woman was safe before she went after the gunmen.

Beca placed Chloe down onto a fresh bed. Upon contact, Chloe let out a long wail. Clearly in shock, the redhead reached out to cling to the front of Beca’s hospital clothes, shaking and whimpering. And Beca wasn’t sure where the impulse had come from, but all of a sudden she swooped her face down to Chloe’s and kissed her firmly on the lips. It appeared to be enough to subdue the woman briefly, Chloe collapsing into the kiss.

Another gunshot was heard, breaking their kiss with a snap, and Beca opened her eyes to look at Chloe seriously, her hands cupping the woman’s cheeks.

“I’ll be right back. I promise.” She said confidently, placing another quick kiss on Chloe’s lips before adding, “Don’t come after me.”

Beca stormed out of the room with such force that when she accidentally nudged against the doorframe of the room she’d just left Chloe in, she dented it. Seeing a gunman a few paces ahead of her, keenly reloading his shotgun, she made a snap decision. Beca strode up to him, grabbed him by the back of the collar with one hand and flung him out of a nearby window, not caring for one second that he would fall to his death. Because _he_ was the one who had shot Chloe.

Chloe - with whom Beca heard yelping out from that bed. She was in pain, and the Beca glanced over to see several doctors and nurses tending to her. Good.

Beca heard another gunshot and at the same time felt a searing pain in her shoulder. The moment the bullet hit her she heard Chloe shriek out in pain once again but this time more bloodcurdled. They were connected after all. Feeling the pain experienced by the other must be ten time worse.

Beca looked over her shoulder to see another gunman grinning menacingly at her and in a whip of fury she grabbed the nearest thing to her - an abandoned wheelchair - with one hand, and flung it over her head at the man who had just had time to shoot another bullet before the wheelchair hit and crushed him against a wall, disarming him. The bullet missed Beca and lodged itself into the wall nearby. And to her annoyance, too close to Toby and Chicago for her liking.

So the brunette then made her way towards them, reaching for a drinks machine and pulling it over so it laid lengthways across the ground. Beca nudged it at Chicago and his son with her foot, barking “Stay down!” before turning to search for the final gunman.

She found him on the ground, his leg caught beneath the bed that she’d thrown at him earlier. With a gun still in his hand, he took a shot at Beca, this time the bullet piercing her right arm. She let out a yelp of pain but it didn’t slow her down. If anything it riled her even more. She’d become like a caged animal let lose on her captors.

Beca grabbed the man with her left hand, pulling him from beneath the bed and flinging him up to the ceiling like a rag doll. Not satisfied with just the one throw, Beca picked him up again in the same manner, then threw him over to a wall across the ward. The man laid dead or unconscious on the ground, disarmed.

All the time that Beca did this, she didn’t see Chloe attempting to leap out of bed to help her. To save her, as she’d been unable to save her in the past. And the dismay Chloe had each time she was successfully grappled down by the hospital staff.

Too distracted by the ‘rag doll’ criminal, Beca failed to see the ‘wheelchair’ criminal approach from behind with a knife. As the blade sliced through her back, Beca cried out in pain, hearing it echoed by Chloe in the room. She turned to grab him, with the intention of flinging him out the window too. But she’s hit square in the face by a portable oxygen tank.

Falling to her knees, Beca stared at the ground, blood dripping from her nose and mouth and landing at her knees. But she didn’t think about it. Because the second she was hit, a memory flashed in her mind:

_She and Chloe, cosied up at the back of a movie theatre, watching Frankenstein. Their hands entwined. Chloe whispering sweet nothings into her ear and placing soft kisses along her jawline._

Beca wanted to take the time to process what she’d just remembered, and how it had made her feel both at the time and right now. But she was given no such opportunity, another blow to the side of her head given by the man with the oxygen tank. She fell to the side as another memory flashed in her mind and the sound of Chloe’s scream sounding out from the room nearby:

_She and Chloe walking down an alleyway together, hand in hand one evening, eighty years ago, talking about the movie. Smiling and kissing and giggling together._

Beca could _feel_ how in love with Chloe she’d been back then. Could _feel_ how in love Chloe had been with her.

Garnering a tiny ounce of strength from this memory, Beca grabbed the oxygen tank just as the man went to hit her again, and chucked it across the room. It collided with something and a pop of fire burst from the contact, setting off the sprinkler system.

Beca, breathless and exhausted and confused by the new memories and feelings, is caught off guard and the criminal grabbed her by the neck with both hands, raised her off the ground, and shoved her against the wall. Being strangled provided another lost memory to appear in Beca’s mind:

_Chloe’s face while the redhead has to endure watching Beca being attacked by three homophobic men in the alleyway. The sound of her screech drawing the attention of nearby police. Officers arresting the attackers._

Beca took the memory and used it to strengthen once again, suddenly grabbing the man’s crotch and crushing it in her palm. As the man let go, her feet landed on the ground, and she flung him out of the window by his crotch.

 _Chloe_.

Beca begins to slowly stagger towards Chloe’s room, dazed and weak, wanting to check to see if she’s okay. Beca can remember the feel of Chloe’s kiss in that memory she’d just had. They’d been in love. _So_ in love. And it had almost killed her.

Upon reaching the doorway to Chloe’s room, Beca heard another gunshot and let out a huge grunt. She felt pain in another part of her back and realised she’d been shot again. She watched as Chloe passed out from the pain.

Beca turned and, thanks to the pain and injury, could do little more than fall to her knees. Water from the sprinklers now dripped from her chin, mixing with the blood oozing from her body, and pooled on the ground beneath her. She looked up and saw the criminal who she’d pulled from under the bed and had thrown around, now stood towering above her, holding a gun to her head.

Beca could’ve whimpered. Could’ve cried. Could’ve even fought back. But before she could do or say or think anything, the man’s eyes suddenly bulged, then rolled into the back of his head. Beca watched as the criminal fell to the ground beside her, a large fire axe sticking in his back.

“You okay?”

The question was asked breathlessly with concern and relief mixed in one. And it had come from Chicago who had done the opposite of ‘Stay down’ as Beca had ordered and had instead found an axe to save Beca’s life.

But Beca can’t answer his question. Laid face down on the ground as it collects with water, Beca is beaten and broken. And as her eyes flutter closed, a final memory flashes in her mind:

Chloe, knelt by her side while Beca lays bloodied and broken. Beca is unconscious. But Chloe is constantly saying how much she loves her and how much she will always love her.

Beca felt Chloe’s heartrate diminish as the doctors and nurses continued to treat her in the nearby room. As Chloe flatlines, Beca’s heart breaks.

She doesn’t have much time to comprehend it all before hospital staff reach her. As they assess her wounds and attempt to treat her, Beca revisits some of Chloe’s words.

_I stayed away to keep you alive._

Beca suddenly exhaled, her eyes slowly opening. She had to leave here. Had to get as far away as possible to save Chloe. To keep her alive.

Beca ignored the instructions of the medical professionals around her who was trying to get her to stay where she was. Instead she got to her feet and ever so slowly limped away from Chloe’s room. With every step she felt a little stronger. And that was when Beca knew: this would work.

With one final deep breath, Beca launched herself out of the broken window and fell all the way down to the ground, landing on one knee, one foot, and both hands. Completely unscathed.

She began making her way down the street, her limp gradually improving until her movements were more of a stagger. The further she went, the stronger she felt, and the better she could move. Beca closed her eyes, the thought of Chloe in that hospital right now swarming around her mind, and with a huge grunt Beca leapt into the air and flew several yards. She landed with a large crunch on her knee, foot, and one hand to keep her balanced. Progress.

Even though Beca wasn’t there, she knew the positive impact her movements were making, and she felt Chloe’s heartbeat begin beating once again. The redhead was weak, but she was alive.

Beca took another deep breath, closed her eyes to compose herself, then as she opened them she began running as fast as her feet would carry her. On and on and on she went until she finally felt her strongest yet and with a huge yell she leapt into the air and flew far far away.

Chloe let out a gasp, her eyes opening, and she looked around for Beca. But all she saw were the hospital staff staring at her in shock, then her husband and stepson, both stood in the doorway looking relieved.

Chloe let out a sigh. She was alive. And so was Beca - she could feel it.


	8. Part 8

“Since when did you start knocking?” Chicago asked in an amused tone as he stepped back from the opened front door of his home to allow Beca to step inside. Beca smirked and sauntered over the threshold.

“Since I walked in on you and your wife doing something I’d _never_ wanted to see.” she replied, looking around the entrance hall of the house.

A light chuckle fell from Chicago’s mouth as he closed the door and wandered through to the kitchen. Beca followed with a calm smile on her face.

“I had cracked skin on my heels!” Chicago tried to reason, pouring Beca a cup of coffee. And Beca’s eyebrows rose while she took the cup from him, not believing him for a second.

“She was giving you a pedicure dude, and the sooner you admit it, the easier your life will feel.”

A year ago Beca had arrived at the house unannounced and had just casually walked through the front door which, in Beca’s defence, _had_ been wide open to let some air through. A yelp had fallen out of both Chloe and Chicago’s mouths having not expected a visitor, and out of Beca’s mouth having never envisioned Chicago to be someone who had pedicures of an evening. After that, Beca had vowed to herself she’d never walk into someone’s house without knocking ever again!

“I’m just gonna go upstairs and see if Toby’s ready.” Chicago said to Beca, making his way to the door of the kitchen, “She’s outside if you want to say hi.”

Beca watched as Chicago left to go upstairs. Today was Toby’s ‘show and tell’ at school and he’d begged Beca to attend as his ‘show and tell’. It hadn’t taken much for her to say yes. She loved the little dude as though he were a son of her own.

The brunette took a deep breath and slowly headed for the large glass doors at the back of the kitchen. There she saw Chloe putting the laundry out to dry. The light morning september breeze drifted through her red hair, and it had Beca’s stomach scrambling a bit. Because she was _so_ in love with Chloe and felt complete whenever they were together. Which was around four times a year for a brief period of time.

A few weeks after Chloe had come back from the dead and Beca had flown away, the two had met up with Chicago and had agreed that while _technically_ Beca and Chloe were a pair and soulmates, Chloe was _technically_ married to Chicago and was helping him raise his child. So US holidays and Toby’s birthday were the official dates that Beca would visit, keeping contact with the Walps, and also staying alive. In the meantime she lived a more secluded life in Paris. _Parfaite_!

“You’re early.” Chloe said in an impressed tone while she hung some socks up. Beca picked a shirt up to help with a small smile.

“I’m on tiiiiime.”

“I meant you’re early for you.” Chloe replied with a chuckle.

Last Christmas both Beca and Chloe had had a deep heart-to-heart. They’d admitted they were both still madly in love with each other and that would never change. But they also admitted that Chloe _couldn’t_ leave Chicago because he was what kept Chloe living a ‘normal family life’. She was in love with him too. And Beca understood that.

“So I’ve been thinking.” Chloe said, handing Beca a few pegs and a pair of pants to hang up. As Beca began the hanging process, Chloe added, “What are you doing in about 60 years time?”

Beca furrowed her brow, the amused smile now being her domain, and she glanced at Chloe curiously.

“Umm…nothing much? You?”

Chloe let out a heavy breath and smiled gently, shrugging as she collected another couple of pegs.

“Nothing much. Just marrying you maybe…”

The peg in Beca’s hand snapped and she quickly looked to Chloe to see if she was joking. But Chloe wasn’t. She was deadly serious.

“I’ve had a talk with Chicago and he’s worried that when he eventually, you know, _dies,”_ she whispered the last part as though it were a taboo subject, and Beca had to admit it _was_ pretty taboo - talking about when Chicago would eventually grow old and die, “that I’ll be left on my own.” Beca chucked the remnants of the crushed peg in the peg basked and picked up a new one while Chloe hung a shirt while continuing.

“But then I was telling him about how i was still in love with you…” she paused to pick up another peg, “…and how much I miss you.”

Beca had finished hanging her garment up and simply stood watching Chloe with a soft smile on her face. They weren’t coy when talking about their feelings for one another. And Chicago never seemed bothered by it. If anything, he’d told Beca and Chloe how pleased he was that as they were both immortal they would always have each other.

“I just feel like when Chicago is no longer here…”

Beca watched as the redhead turned to face her, a soft smile on her face to mirror Beca’s.

“…that I’m willing to become mortal…if it means growing old with you.”

The smile on Beca’s face grew as she realised what this meant, and she cleared her throat.

“So is this a proposal?” she asked and a light chuckle fell from Chloe’s mouth as she nodded gently.

“More like a betrothal but yeah….if you wanted?”

Beca bit her bottom lip and paused for a few moments. Yes she wanted. But was it definitely what Chicago wanted? Sure, he wouldn’t be around by then but Beca still respected the man. After all, she wouldn’t be where she was today without him.

“It was Chicago’s idea, if that’s what you’re worried about?” Chloe said, “He thought it was best if I asked you now instead of waiting and-“

“-me being busy with someone else in sixty years time?”

“Yeah.”

“Impossible.” Beca said in an assuring tone, “There won’t be anyone else. Not now not ever.”

Beca and Chloe both shared an affectionate smile. To many ordinary people it would seem strange making plans - particularly such serious plans - so far in advance. But Beca and Chloe weren’t ordinary people. They were gods, angels, superheros, _immortal_. A pair. And this was the first time they’d had a discussion about becoming officially mortal together. To live their final few decades together once Chicago had passed.

“Beca!!”

Beca looked from Chloe to the house and saw Toby racing out towards them with a big beaming smile on his face. The nine year old threw his arms around Beca’s waist, almost knocking her to the ground, and the brunette let out a chuckle as she ruffled his hair.

“Hey little dude. You all ready?”

“Yep!” Toby said in a bright and cheery voice.

The kid often asked why Beca wasn’t around much any more. And rather than tell the truth - that Beca being around ‘Mom’ all the time meant that both ‘Mom’ and Beca would be in terrible danger - Chicago and Chloe (and Beca) agreed it best to tell the boy that the city of Paris now needed a superhero. It seemed to be explaination enough.

“Beca? Will you be here for dinner?” Toby asked, having peeled himself from the woman and now looked up at her with his big brown eyes. Beca put her hands on her hips. She hated disappointing him.

“Ah. Sorry kiddo. I gotta get back to Europe after your show-and-tell.” Toby’s little face dropped and his shoulders slumped. Beca attempted to add optimistically, “But hey, at least it’s not long until Thanksgiving now huh?” but it didn’t seem to help much.

“I guess.” Toby squeaked, shrugging gently while looking down at his feet in disappointment.

The two women looked from the little boy to one another with guilty expressions. It wasn’t their fault that this was the arrangement that needed to be kept. They couldn’t help the rules of their immortality. They both looked to the house just as Chicago came strolling out with a bright look on his face. A bright look that fell when he saw his son’s expression.

“Hey buddy what’s going on?” he asked, but Toby just looked up at him with a sad expression.

“Dad are you suuuuure Beca can’t stay for dinner?”

The grown-ups all paused, looking from Toby to one another. It was hard trying to juggle this thing sometimes. It was difficult to know how long Beca could stay before her (and Chloe’s) immortality would be hindered. Chicago desperately wanted his wife to remain healthy and happy and _immortal_ \- particularly after he’d seen the state she’d been in eighteen months earlier at that hospital. He just wanted to protect her the only way he knew how. By keeping his friend - Chloe’s _soulmate_ \- away for most of the year.

“Um…” Chicago began, but Beca simply shrugged.

“I mean I guess I could always run my errands after show-and-tell then fly back in time for dinner?” she suggested, looking specifically at the man, as though asking his permission. She didn’t have errands, but she did have to keep away from Chloe as much as possible. And a smile spread on Chicago’s face. Because Beca was _family_. And a valued member at that.

Toby saw his father’s smile and became excitable, “Really??”

“I don’t see why not.” Chicago said, looking to his wife to check. But Chloe was already smiling down at the boy, who had jumped up into the air with a loud “Awesome!!”

And as Toby ran back towards the house, yelling something about racing Beca to the front door, the three adults looked at one another with smiles on their faces. It wasn’t exactly an ordinary setup. But this little family were hardly ordinary.

“Yeah.” Beca agreed as she looked at Chloe fondly, “Awesome.”


End file.
